Like many school districts across the country, our district has faced significant transportation challenges due to a shortage of bus drivers. Reliable transportation is essential for student safety and academic success, and we are committed to working together to find innovative solutions.
Currently, the district employs 69 bus drivers to cover 71 daily school day routes with additional late bus runs and athletic trips. Our district covers 112 square miles with the average bus route scheduled for 60 minutes. When a driver calls out and is not available to work, we often have our mechanics and Transportation Directors, who are licensed to drive a bus, fill in to cover. There are days when all our staff is out driving, and routes need to be cancelled or delayed. Despite ongoing recruitment efforts, we have not successfully brought in the number of drivers our district needs. This is a challenge that many school districts are facing and we are exploring all possible options to help support our transportation department and improve the reliability of bussing for our families.
In July, the district partnered with On the Bus Transportation Planning Service to conduct a comprehensive review of our current transportation system, including a review of all existing bus routes, student ridership, analysis of staffing, opportunities for improved efficiencies, and exploring alternative options of how to best meet the needs of our school community.
At the December 12 Board of Education meeting, On the Bus Transportation Planning Service presented findings and recommendations from the Transportation Efficiency Study to the district. The recommendations shared during this presentation are not final decisions being implemented by the district. The findings and recommendations outlined in the study are a starting point for discussions and exploration of possible options moving forward.
This study was designed to help address the significant transportation challenges we face, including a shortage of bus drivers and the need to ensure reliable service for students. The review included:
- Existing bus routes and student ridership,
- Staffing levels and driver availability,
- Opportunities for improved efficiencies, and
- Alternative options to better meet the needs of our school community.
As was presented in the study, the district is currently organized using a two-tier routing system with the high school and middle school on tier one and all six elementary schools on tier two. This system was effective when the district had over 80 drivers available. Now, with 67 drivers working, there is significant stress on the system to meet the number of daily bus routes that need to be scheduled.
The consultants recommended the district explore implementing a three-tier routing system that spreads out the number of bus routes over three arrival and dismissal times reducing the number of drivers that are required at each tier and better aligning to our current staffing levels. This would also allow the district to have our own drivers cover the out-of-district runs that are currently contracted to private transportation companies. A three-tier transportation system is used by most of the large school districts in our region and across the state. A comparison of local school district transportation systems was provided in the presentation.
Routing and providing safe and efficient transportation for 5,800 students to and from school on a daily basis is complex and there are many moving parts to meet the needs of our students, programs, and extracurricular opportunities. We have heard feedback from parents who have expressed frustration when regular school day bus routes have to be cancelled, or when we are not able to offer late buses or cover athletic trips due to the lack of bus drivers.
